Students trying to spend spring break in the sun could be in for cooler weather when they return to the University in April.The University has experienced unusual weather this year because of the El Niño climate pattern, said Barry Keim, Louisiana state climatologist.”The forecast for April and May should be cooler than normal,” Keim said. “The enhanced precipitation experienced this winter should begin to wane during this time.”El Niño is a disturbance of the ocean-atmosphere system in the tropical portion of the           Pacific that affects weather patterns around the world, according to the National Weather Service.El Niño affects South Louisiana by causing coastal storms to form in the Gulf of Mexico that cause wet and cool weather, Keim said.Keim said the increased rainfall caused by El Niño should decrease soon if it has not already, but temperatures should remain cooler than normal through April and May.The biggest effect the cold and wet weather has had on campus has been higher heating costs so far this semester, said Sam Territo, associate director of facility maintenance.Territo said the University didn’t have a problem with leaks this winter because the coastal storms caused by El Niño only affect buildings from one side, so finding potential problems was easy.Keim said this winter was the coldest on record in 32 years and the sixth coldest since 1895, when records began to be kept.He also said the rainfall totals in southeast Louisiana were extraordinarily high this winter. “The levels of precipitation shattered records at many locations in southeast Louisiana this December,” Keim said. —–Contact Jacob Most at [email protected]